There are several different types of water or marine buoys, each designed for a specific purpose and use and there are often regulations or laws governing use of different types of such buoys. The present invention is not concerned with marine buoys in general, but is only concerned with one specific type of marine buoy that has a specific use and application—a mooring buoy.
A mooring buoy is used in a mooring system.
A mooring system allows a boat to remain secured when unattended by tying into the mooring system instead of using an anchor. Each mooring system will generally have a mooring anchor, a mooring buoy and a length of chain running between the mooring anchor and the mooring buoy. The mooring anchor is permanently affixed to a ground bottom while the mooring buoy floats the chain and provides surface site identification. The mooring system will also have galvanized shackles and swivels that are sized for the system.
There are generally two general types of a mooring buoy. A first type of mooring buoy comes complete with hardware while the second type of mooring buoy has a tube through its center.
A mooring buoy should be sized to accommodate the chain it is floating, which is a function both of depth of the water and size of boat to be moored. Because mooring buoys are not used for navigational purposes, they do not need to protrude far out of the water, as is the case with navigational or marker buoys. Traditional mooring buoys have a circular shape that maximizes floating capacity.